ATHLETICS

Alden Discusses Vanderbilt Decision

It certainly has been a very interesting time in intercollegiate athletics over the past year. Attention-grabbing headlines have been written throughout the country, which have raised an even higher level of awareness of our passionate sporting culture.

One announcement, which was well-documented nationally, was the decision by Vanderbilt University to consolidate their athletic department with other areas within the institution. While this news created quite a stir for a few days, it has been interesting to see that the initial shock of the decision has subsided significantly over the past few weeks. There are most likely a few very strong reasons why this concept has not, and will probably not, gather interest from other major universities in our country.

Keith Goldman, an online journalist for MagicJam.com, has some rather clear thoughts on the issue:

“[College athletics] is a multi-billion dollar industry and there is a reason for it. Because people want it, they demand it and they love it,” said Goldman. “For many, spectator sports are the primary form of entertainment that allows them some relief from the strains and drains of their realistic life. For all the belly aching about how much they are underpaid in their jobs or the high price of gasoline and butter, sports fans become immune to the mega-million dollar contracts paid to these athletes. Oh sure, they may covet and they may even screech that they are too high, but they still tune in, pay for the ticket or check the box scores each day,” he said.

It’s true! The reason sports, and in particular college sports, have become such a big business, is because that’s what the public demands. That is why I was surprised to hear of the recent move at Vanderbilt. My colleague there, Todd Turner, a nationally respected member of our profession, had no clue of the changes until Chancellor Gee informed him of the decision right before holding a news conference to make the formal announcement.

I was not the only one surprised by the move. Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg had this response, “The decision by the Vanderbilt chancellor is one that is unique to Vanderbilt, and I do not see it as applicable to other universities in the way they have chosen to do it,” Weiberg said. “The goal, however, of making sure that athletic departments are fully integrated into the structure of the university is appropriate for all Division I universities. This is particularly true of functions like rules compliance, academic support services and general financial management and oversight. But each university must decide the appropriate formal structure and what works best given its unique history, tradition and governance approach,” he said.

NCAA President Myles Brand admitted that Vanderbilt’s restructuring is not likely to be the wave of the future. “Their model may not be right for everybody right now,” he said. Even Chancellor Gee, who previously held the same position at Ohio State University, concluded, “If I tried this at Ohio State, I would be pumping gas right now.”

This is such an unorthodox approach to what we are trying to do, as far as continuing to do everything we can to maintain and to build an integration of an intercollegiate athletics program into the academic mission of an institution. You would never take the head of a $40 million subsidiary and say, in effect, ‘We don’t need an operational arm there; we’ll have a couple of other subsidiaries operate your department.’ That is an unsound business approach, in my opinion.

Make no mistake. Vanderbilt is not like most Division-I institutions. It is a private school that operates under extremely high academic standards. Some have referred to Vanderbilt as the “Harvard of the South.”

Why wouldn’t this approach work at other institutions? The complexities of operating an intercollegiate athletics program in today’s world are more profound than they have ever been before in the history of college athletics. Mizzou is a perfect example of that right now, with the things we’re working to manage. Whether it has to do with enhanced television contracts, or the new academic standards that are being put in place by the NCAA, or an investigation into the men’s basketball program – all of those types of things require an institution to make sure that it maintains a well-managed and well-balanced program.

Also at Missouri, we have a completely different mission as an institution. We are the flagship institution of our state, and with that, athletics is a very, very important component to a broad-based group of people, beyond the faculty, staff and students on campus. We serve the state legislature, as well as the more than five million people in our state. If we were going to manage our program by folding it into the Division of Student Life, as did Vanderbilt, I think it would de-value something that people in our state believe to be very important.

Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Missouri is by no means the most important aspect of our institution, but to many residents of this state it is vital to maintaining a competitive broad-based program.

Steve Wieberg, a senior writer for USA Today, just doesn’t believe Vanderbilt’s approach will work. “Laudable as Vanderbilt’s intentions might be, the concept is hardly practical for big-time college athletics,” said Wieberg. “In football’s Division I-A, in particular, schools are operating complex, multimillion-dollar business enterprises and hiring athletics directors with business, marketing and even legal backgrounds to oversee them. These aren’t intramurals. They’re not club sports. Lumping them together and putting it all in the hands of an assistant vice-chancellor seems an invitation to competitive and fiscal chaos. Even Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee admitted he couldn’t have gotten away with such a move at two of his previous places of employment, Colorado and Ohio State. Maybe he figures Vandy has nothing to lose,” said Wieberg.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this column. If you have any questions about this topic, or anything relating to college athletics at the University of Missouri, I would encourage you to contact me by e-mail at aldenm@missouri.edu.

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Last Update: November 15, 2007